


The Inevitable Topology of the Trefoil Knot

by treewishes



Category: Continuum (TV)
Genre: F/M, Freelancers explained, Gardiner is only mostly dead, Season/Series 02 Spoilers, Season/Series 03 Speculation, Timey-Wimey, you can never go home again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 16:18:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1096037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treewishes/pseuds/treewishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time it happened, Alec thought it was a flash of deja vu.  And then it just ... didn't stop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Inevitable Topology of the Trefoil Knot

**Author's Note:**

  * For [belmanoir](https://archiveofourown.org/users/belmanoir/gifts).



The first time it happened, Alec thought it was a flash of deja vu. And then it just ... didn't stop.

Was it a memory? He kept feeling that if he just stopped for a minute, that everything would feel normal again. But then another wave hit him and it felt like his stomach wasn't quite where it was supposed to be. There had been a shift, a glitch, something was off.

He stumbled back to bed, feeling echo after echo of his head hitting the pillow, echoes of the soft noise Emily made as she woke up, echoes of the way the light fell... and then fell just slightly differently... on her face.

He closed his eyes as she shifted next to him, and he knew exactly how it would feel as--

"Alec. What's wrong?"

His eyes snapped open. "What, what?" he said, sitting up. "You didn't kiss me."

She smiled. "Well, I was going to, but you had this look on your face. Are you feeling okay?"

"I don't know," he said, sitting up. "It's like I'm remembering things that didn't happen." He glanced up at the door. "Wait, I want to try something." He jumped up and walked deliberately to the window. "I can't understand this. I'm standing here, but I'm also walking down the stairs. It's really weird."

Emily didn't seem concerned. "Wait, now I want to try something," she said, slowly pulling the sheet down to her waist. "Does this look familiar?"

"No. I mean yes. I mean," he sat down on the bed. "You're really beautiful."

Saying that, at least, felt right.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

He made it to the lab, but nothing he could check using his systems looked out of whack. Time was still ticking along like it was supposed to be, no recent disturbances. He leaned back in his chair, puzzled. "Kiera, are you there?"

"Good morning, Alec. You're up early."

"Yeah, I know. I'm having a kind of deja vu overload here, can't figure it out. Just wondering, does anything feel strange in your CMR?"

"No, nothing. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't check it out. I'll see you at the lab as soon as I check in at the Station."

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

He was still running random diagnostics when Emily arrived, a welcome warmth against his back. "Still feeling strange?"

"Uh huh, but it comes and goes." He turned to look at her. "How are--," he began, and was immediately struck by the overwhelming feeling that something was wrong with her. With them. "Tell me."

She pressed her lips together, then shrugged in resignation. "Alec, I have to take off for awhile. I'm sorry, I know it's kind of sudden-- it just can't be helped, and it's not you. Don't even go there."

Alec flinched. This was so wrong, it was making his whole body hurt. "No, no. You have to tell what's really going on. You can't just take off for--" He closed his eyes for a second, remembering. "For a nude beach in Thailand without explaining. Everything."

"How did you--"

"And yes, I could go with you, and yes, I do have a passport, but what is this really about?" He closed his eyes again, for just a second, and a picture of Escher swam into view. It was half memory, half logic. ”What does this have to do with Escher?"

"Escher? How did you--"

"Emily, just tell me, please."

She looked like she was being marched to prison, but she told him. "He-- Escher. He hired me to get close to you. Find out what you were developing. To keep an eye on you. It started before we met at that coffee shop."

This was unbelievable. "So when I spoke to you--

"You never did. I introduced myself. Remember?"

"We didn't really meet?"

"Oh, Alec. I'm so, so sorry. You were my target. I was meant to observe. Meet. Engage. And get ARC away from you."

"So we were a lie. Everything was--" He couldn't believe it, but it made total sense. "Oh my god, you were asking about the lab on the second date."

"Alec," she pleaded, her voice breaking, "I'm in love with you. It stopped being an assignment a long time ago." She looked totally shattered, and it tugged at his heart. "Escher bought a lot, but he couldn't buy that."

He was overwhelmed with love for her. It was like he could remember that he had already forgiven her. "I believe you, of course I believe you."

She was crying and laughing, they both were. "I thought telling you would be the end of us. This is so much better."

He smiled and kissed her hair just as his email pinged. He pulled open his phone.

"Alec?"

"It's the DNA results from that test I did on Jason. He's a 99.9 percent genetic match." This was the proof he'd been waiting for that Jason was his father. Suddenly, his head exploded and he reached out to steady himself. He thought he was getting used to these waves of dissonance, but this one was as bad as ever. "This should be proof that he's my father. Except somehow I know he's not."

"Well, that's good. It's no use trying to make something like that true."

"That's good advice," Travis said, coming down the stairs. What was he doing here? Alec quickly pushed Emily toward the back of the lab. "There's a storage room. Lock yourself in."

"You're protecting your girlfriend. That's sweet. Not gonna help."

Suddenly, Emily ran at Travis swinging a box cutter. Without breaking a sweat, Travis disarmed her and pulled her arm back painfully.

"Please don't hurt her." Alec was ready to promise him anything--

When Kiera suddenly appeared like an avenging angel behind him. She knocked Travis out and quickly secured his hands and feet. "I need better restraints for him. These won't last long when he comes to."

Emily staggered back, her hand at her throat. "Alec, what the hell was that? This is a Liber8 terrorist. And he knows you?"

Kiera looked at Travis, then at Emily. "Alec, we should leave. It's not safe here."

"Wait, wait a minute." He could clearly remember it all going differently, the feeling that time and space was shifted was really strong--

Suddenly, it hit him. He MUST HAVE USED THE DEVICE.

"Oh my god, Kiera. I just realized." He stumbled over to a table, holding on to keep from falling down. "Something must have happened that forced me use the device. I must have gone back to this morning." He sank into his chair. "God, I hope it is only a few hours. Every time I do anything different, it just feels more and more strange."

"You used the device?" Kiera said, standing up slowly.

"I must have. That's the only explanation." He reached over and pulled the device from the test setup. "I still have it. And there aren't two of me around, but it's like there are two sets of memories in my head at the same time. It's been totally bugging me since I woke up."

Emily took the device out of his hand. "This is the thing that Escher wants. Why? What did you use it for?"

Alec didn't know what to say.

"And I'll ask again," Emily said, sharply. "Why is a Liber8 terrorist tied up on the floor of your lab?"

Kiera crossed her arms. "I would say it's none of your business, but I'm too interested in what Alec has to say. You used the device. I thought we had a deal."

He wished he could answer differently. "Kiera, I'm sure I meant to send you back. I'm trying to figure out why I wouldn't have." He took the device back from Emily and answered her questions. "It's a time travel device. It's how Kiera got here from the future. Her, Jason, the Liber8 terrorists, Escher for all we know."

Emily took that in. "Time travel. Are you serious?"

"Yes. And Escher wants it."

"So if we destroy it, Escher has no reason to pursue us."

He glanced at Kiera. "Do you think that's true?"

"You know what that device means to me. But Escher is a wild card. I don't trust him."

Alec agreed. "Escher controls the power that makes this work," he said, idly turning the device in his hand. "So he must have helped me."

Emily nodded.  "He may not be a good guy, but he doesn't want you hurt, I know that for certain."

"Which brings me back to why I used it. Did I do something terrible that I need to undo?  Or do I need to do something I didn't do? It's impossible to leave yourself a clue, apparently."  He drummed his fingers on his keyboard. "And unfortunately, that dilemma rules out hiding in a locked storage room until time catches up."

Kiera looked thoughtful. "It's likely you sent yourself back only a few hours. Why go back further than you have to? It must be something that happened today."

"I think so, too. If I was being logical, which we have to assume I was. Then I should try to go ahead and do what I did in my old set of memories."

"Except--" Kiera interrupted.

Emily looked at Kiera. "This time, we'll both be protecting you." Kiera nodded. "Okay, where did you go on Day 1.0?"

He glanced at his phone. "Jason's place."

He pointed to Travis. "What do we do with him?"

Kiera smiled. "Let's leave him here for Kellogg to find."

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

As soon as they arrived, Alec let Emily talk to Jason and found a quiet spot to cover his ears and close his eyes, trying to remember what had happened the first time they were here.  Jason serving them tea. Hiding the device in the pot, saying "they" could find them with it. The Freelancers would find them. Then his heart spiked as he remembered Kiera and Carlos arriving, guns drawn. Then more guns.

"Okay, this must be it.  If I pull the device out of my bag, the Freelancers will arrive and start shooting." The memories were coming fast now, the fear, the noise, distracting him. "You were here, Kiera, it was bad."

Emily stood up, saying, "Is there another door to this place?" at the same time Kiera said, "We'll need to set a trap."

Jason was shaking his head, "No, no, no, that is a really bad idea," and Alec agreed, but the two women were already working out the details.

Soon, Emily was stationed at the front door with a pipe.  Kiera activated her suit and pointed her gun at the door.  "Okay, Alec, let's do this."

Alec took a deep breath. Proper preparation prevents poor performance, isn't that what his mother always said? Jason was mumbling about cages and troubles and hiding under a set of rickety shelves.

He placed the device on the table next to the teapot like it was a time bomb.

Nothing happened right away and he thought for just a moment that they were safe. No such luck, he thought, as he heard Emily grunt and a body hit the floor.  Kiera ran to her, firing shots in rapid succession.

Then it was quiet.  He put the device away and called, "All clear?"

"Come take a look," Kiera said, and Alec knew this couldn't be good.

Emily had found some old rope and was tying up a woman who was knocked out, her nose broken and a pipe-shaped bruise forming on her face.

"Over here," Kiera said, standing over a man slumped to the ground and bleeding. "This is Agent Gardiner.  He's been missing for a couple of weeks. Carlos told me this morning that he had been murdered and that I was a suspect."

"I suppose they had proof? Because he doesn't look dead to me."

"You mean he's not dead yet," Emily supplied helpfully.  She pulled viciously at the woman's bindings.

Just then, Agent Gardiner's head dropped, and it seemed Emily's prediction had come true. Then, as they watched, his eyes snapped open and he sat up and reached into his jacket, presumably for a gun. Kiera pointed her gun at him, shouting "Stand down. STAND DOWN. Agent Gardiner! Stop where you are!" Gardiner ignored her, getting his feet under him and hesitatating only moment before again reaching into his jacket.

"Gardiner! Look at me." She yanked his hand down and away. He finally looked at her. "Remember me? You and me working together. Remember?"

His face faltered, and he seemed to recognize Kiera. He slowly lowered his hand. "No, I don't remember, but-- I feel like I should. I know you."

Kiera reached in to his pocket and quickly disarmed him, tossing his gun to the floor and kicking it away. She motioned to a chair.  "You, sit there."

At that moment, the woman revived and began struggling against her bonds. She managed to free one of her hands and pulled a gun from behind her waist. Kiera shot her in the chest, twice in quick succession, before she could raise the gun.

Alec was just breathing a sigh of relief, when the woman took a breath and revived. Alec felt it like a wave, like time was shifting fast and hard rather than the few centimeters it seemed to move previously.

"What the hell?" Emily backed away.  Kiera shot her again, this time in the shoulder with the intent to disable rather than kill. Emily took her weapons and retied her hands, this time with a black band Kiera provided from her suit pocket.

The running commotion in Alec's head threatened to overwhelm him. "Okay, okay, okay, wait a minute, gimme a minute." He pressed his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut. He could hear the gunfire, feel the panic, not knowing whether to run or hide, trying to protect Emily. Was this ambush the thing he would stop from happening? Had they stopped it already?

He opened his eyes for a second, checking that Kiera still had her gun, that Gardiner and Emily and Jason were still watching him. He closed his eyes again. He was running, shouting, screaming, and hearing guns popping all over the place. Then he noticed that the Freelancers, he had to assume they were Freelancers, were different.

He opened his eyes and pulled his hands from his ears. "You," he said, pointing to Gardiner. "You weren't here last time. Neither was she. It was a different team, but the same thing happened.  They got shot, then they got up and kept coming after us."

"Gardiner, what are you doing here?" Kiera interrogated him. "Where have you been for the past two weeks?"

"What are you people?" Emily interjected. "What is this?"

Gardiner looked like a deer in headlights. "I-- I don't know. I don't remember. Just that he told us we wouldn't die, that we shouldn't fight with our own safety in mind. That we would come back." He looked directly at Kiera. "That I wouldn't remember anything, just that I needed to get the sphere and get away.  But I do remember. I remember you."

"There was a time shift," Alec said, puzzled. "When she died and came back. Like she time traveled away, and a new body traveled in to take her place."

"You mean, like a clone?" Emily said. "Could this get any more weird?"

"Yes," Gardiner said. "There are clones. Where I was. I-- don't want to go back."

Alec's mind was racing, trying to understand where-- or WHEN-- this clone farm could be. So he felt more than heard it when Emily was shot. He snapped open his eyes, saying Emily's name, reaching for her.

She gasped and pressed her hand to her chest. "What happened?" She crumpled to the ground. "It hurts, why does it hurt?"

He knelt over her. "You're okay, it's okay," Alec said, pulling her hand away, making sure there was no wound. "But why are you're feeling this? I remember that you were shot, that you--" He couldn't bear to think about it.

"Oh, yeah," Jason said. "That's what they don't tell you about time travel. The echoes make you crazy." He was half talking to them, half to himself. "And what they really don't tell you, because it's a secret, is that the people around you can hear the echoes, too."

"Jason," Kiera asked, "is that what you're hearing? Echoes?"

"Oh, yeah. Echoes. I have too many times in my head. Hard to keep them all straight. Hard to remember which one is real."

Alec looked at him, pieces falling into place. "Oh, man, I get that. If you did this more than once? It would be insanity. And what if you overlapped your own-- wait, wasn't Kagame in his sixties when he came back with Liber8? When was he born?"

Kiera consulted her database. "You're right. He was born about an hour after the Tower went down, with his 65 year old self in it."

"That would be incredible, sharing your brain with a newborn." Alec was having a hard enough time sharing with him who was one day older. "I mean, incredibly bad. He must have known."

She nodded. "He must have. It makes sense."

Alec pointed at Gardiner. "And that explains why the Freelancers come back without their memories-- they must wipe them."

The woman revived again, and Gardiner held up his hand. "Let me?"

Kiera nodded. Gardiner leaned over and clasped hands with the woman, intertwining their fingers. He nodded up at Kiera, and a few seconds later, the woman faded out of existence.

"What the hell was that?" Alec scrambled up to look at Gardiner's hand. The dots were there between his fingers. "I need to see these back at the lab. What are they?"

"The sign of the Freelancers," Kiera said. "Escher has them, too. Apparently, not just decorative."

"So what does this mean? She died, and revived, and would have kept doing so until--?"

"Until," Gardiner said. "They ran out of clones."

"Clones. Christ. Really?"

Emily tucked her hand under his arm. "Do you actually understand what's going on?"

He shook his head. "Maybe? I think saving you was the thing I needed to come back and fix."

"Thank you? I mean, thank you. Thank you a lot."

"You're welcome," he grinned at her. "I'm remembering being really unhappy about it."

Kiera even looked a little pleased. "What happened next? Should you keep following your memories?"

"No. I really don't want to go there, too much risk of time realigning itself. I want to wait until I remember using the device. Then we'll figure out our next steps."

"That's all?" Emily smiled at him, and it was like the sun coming out.

Alec shrugged. "And figure out what to do with a clone of Agent Gardiner. Oh yeah, who has no memory."

Kiera nodded. "I'm accused of his murder. I didn't do it, by the way."

Gardiner laughed. "Glad to hear it."

"Hey, Agent Gardiner," Emily asked. "What should we call you? Is Gardiner your first name?"

"Yeah, that's strange. I don't know. But Gardiner sounds right. Maybe I would know it if I heard it? If that makes sense."

Alec nodded. "It does to me. Wait, I bet we can look you up—" He turned to find his laptop, but Kiera interrupted. "I can access that." She tapped a few buttons on her wrist then looked up. "Your name is Nicholas Lee Gardiner. You were born on June 22, 1962, in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. You joined the Navy at age 19 and were recruited by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Your record there," she cocked her head, "is mostly blank, but there are other indicators that you've worked with the FBI and undercover in organized crime. I don't know anything about your personal life; it doesn't look as though you left a family behind when you died. At least, CSIS didn't contact anyone."

"Thanks. That sounds-- right." He turned to Emily. "I guess you can call me Nick," he said.

Kiera turned away, and motioned Alec to talk with her. "What about putting him on some security footage? Can you plant something?"

Alec nodded. "I think so--"

"Wait." She turned back to Gardiner. "What did you say?"

Emily and Gardiner looked puzzled. "Nick was just telling me about where he was before he appeared here."

"You said something about Sam."

"Yeah," he shrugged. "Sam is the guy who sent me here."

Alec put a hand on Kiera's arm. "It's pretty unlikely."

"Alec, I don't think you've been paying attention. There have been far too many coincidences."  She tapped at her wrist, and pulled up a picture of a young boy. "How old would you say this Sam was?" she asked.

"Young. Mid-twenties, I'd say."

She tapped a few more times. "Does this look anything like him?" She showed him the picture on her display.

Gardiner looked surprised. "Close enough.  That's him."

Kiera pressed a hand to her face, suppressing a sob. "He grew up without me. Can I still fix it? If I go back, can I prevent all of this?"

"I don't know," Alec said, "I don't know anything. We need to figure this out. Let's go back to the lab."

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

"Hey, the big scary dude is gone," Emily said, as they made their way down the stairs.

Suddenly, Alec felt a jolt. He closed his eyes and remembered using the device.

And then... nothing. He breathed a huge sigh of relief when he realized there was just one set of memories in his head.

"Do you feel it?" Emily said. "Wow, it's like everything was tilted wrong, and now it's okay."

Kiera stopped and slumped against the wall. "I hadn't realized the feeling of dread. It was you."

Alec nodded. "Sorry. I had no idea the echoes were affecting you guys so much."

Kiera had tears in her eyes. "I can't do that to him," she said. "If I went back, he would feel that something was wrong, that I was wrong, all the time. I just," she took a deep breath. "I always thought I would see him again. That I would see him grow up."

"Kiera, we still don't know for sure how all this works. If we change what we do, what just you and I do right now, we may change everything in the future."

She shook her head. "But Sam grew up. And I wasn't there."

"And what happens if I never start a company called SadTech? It means you would have had a different life."

She leaned her head against the wall. She looked utterly defeated, and Alec just wanted to fix it, any way he could. "What you're saying is that Sam is a glitch. I came here and changed the past, and that means my Sam was never born. Except he was."

He winced. "You could be right. We just don't know. But we do know that more time travel will only make it worse, not better."

"Sam must know that, too. If he's behind the Freelancers."

"Yeah. I'm sorry. If we keep the device, the Freelancers will find us. We need to take it apart and find a way to have options when they come for it, and we will, Kiera."

"It's okay. Or it will be."

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

"You really traveled through time to save me?"

"I guess I did," Alec said.

"And Kiera saved Nick from being a faceless killer."

He could see Kiera's small smile as she drove through the darkness. "I guess she did."

"So what now?" Emily, of course, asked all of the practical questions.

"We need to rebuild the lab, but we can't trust Kellogg--"

"Absolutely not," Emily added.

"And we can't trust Escher--

"Absolutely, positively not," Emily piped up, again.

"So in conclusion," Kiera said, "The only people we can trust are each other."

After a minute she added, "I heard from Carlos. He and Betty have joined up with Julian and your mother at the farm." Alec really didn't want to go there.

"Nick," Emily began, "Do you have any ideas?" Even though Alec had neutralized the implants in Gardiner's hand, or thought he did, Nick still hadn't recovered any memories. Just echoes, he said.

"All I know that I can't trust anyone, except you," Nick said. Kiera gave him a tight smile. Alec knew it would be some time before she came to terms with not going back to 2077. But Nick would help, they all could see that.

Kiera said, "Escher has hidden for years. There must be a way."

Alec agreed. "I'll talk to him. We'll figure it out."

Emily grinned at him. "And that, my friend, is how I met your father." 

He could only laugh. 

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~end~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

 


End file.
